Recording: Prince Nifty & Colin Fisher

Artist: Prince Nifty & Colin Fisher

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Le Monde, June 7, 2025.

Prince Nifty & Colin Fisher - [excerpt]

Another living room-sized show that felt perfectly cozy at Le Monde, giving the artists time to stretch out and play an unrushed set where the music dictated the duration. A treat, as always to see Matt Smith (a.k.a. Prince Nifty) in action, here on percussion, laptop and treated vocals. He was joined by Colin Fisher, this time out on analog synth, lap steel (as heard in the extract here), tanpura, guitar and saxophone. Some really nice meditative stretches with the diversity of sounds embellishing the predominating droneform.

You can check out some more from this set over on youtube:

Recording: Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher

Artist: Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher

Songs: [excerpt, in two parts]

Recorded July 12, 2022 at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Most Popular Mic Touching Sounds).

Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher - [excerpt, part 1]

Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher - [excerpt, part 2]

Something a little different here with an ambitious duo effort from sound-sculptor Matt Smith and multi-instrumentalist Colin Fisher, who both brought some extra gear along. Smith had a full-sized monitor and a stack of sound interfaces to wrangle and manipulate sounds, while there was a rare appearance of Fisher's guzheng — and he played piano (!) and tenor sax as well. That meant there was some extra troubleshooting that lead to this encounter being one slightly-extended set instead of two in their timeslot, but that was enough space to explore bow-scrapes, reverb sizzles, hazy vox and spaces beyond.

Recording: Nifty Trio

Artist: Nifty Trio

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at Pamenar Café, July 19, 2018.

Nifty Trio - unknown

This instalment of Colin Fisher's back patio summer series at Kensington's Pamanar Café saw him invite Matt Smith — Prince Nifty himself! — to stretch out some sounds. Sitting behind his table of precariously-balanced gear (laptop, keyb, mixer) he was joined by Fisher (on guit and pedals this time out) and Thom Gill (midi keyb, synth, laptop, kaoss pad, etc.). There were some "songs" in the first set, but the pieces were loosely structured enough that more than hanging together from any kind of melodic or lyrical sense they seemed webbed together by the hazy, half-hidden throughline more typical of dream logic. Coming off like extended selections from an ambient electronic pop opera, Smith sometimes seemed barely in control of the processing wrapped around his unparseable lyrics. Even the vocals disappeared by the time of the second set, which had this piece at its heart, sounding like something off a private press new age cassette produced by a mystic obsessed with Terry Riley-esque minimalism.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Prince Nifty

Artist: Prince Nifty

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Somewhere There Creative Music Festival – Show 3 late-night afterparty), February 25, 2017.

Prince Nifty - unknown

The timing for this Healing Power-curated afterparty set was maybe a bit unfortunate, as probably a lot of the same crowd that'd come out to groove to Matt Smith's crooked beat dancefloor confections were over giving their last respects to beloved local venue Holy Oak. But this set still managed to generate some kinetic energy to cap off the festival's evening.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Prince Nifty

Artist: Prince Nifty

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at BIG on Bloor Festival – St. Clarens Stage, July 23, 2016.

Prince Nifty - unknown

Shutting down Bloor from Dufferin to Lansdowne, BIG on Bloor landed in the midst of a heatwave that made an afternoon tour down the middle of the street feel like a field trip to the surface of the sun. Things were more tolerable under the leafy trees at St. Clarens, where one of the day's stages was quite excellently curated by Justin from Holy Oak. Hewing towards funky and r'n'b sounds, this felt like a mini-block party within the larger event. Working in his "dancefloor" mode, Matt Smith reminded the crowd at the outset that they needn't feel obliged to watch him as he bent, crimped and spliced his beats. With the day's last stretch of harsh sunshine pressing down like a blanket, the dance crew on hand looked as if they decided it was time to sweat to keep from melting.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Germaine Liu/Jonathan Adjemian/Matt Smith

Artist: Germaine Liu/Jonathan Adjemian/Matt Smith

Songs: [two excerpts]

Recorded at Dundas Video (Track Could Bend #16: unc_RLed), July 5, 2016.

Germaine Liu/Jonathan Adjemian/Matt Smith - [excerpt 1]

Germaine Liu/Jonathan Adjemian/Matt Smith - [excerpt 2]

In its continuing mission to find new ways to deconstruct and recombine various musical strands, this instalment of TCB saw the friends of local improvising aces c_RL split into its component parts, with each of the members invited to invite their choice of collaborators. This trio, convened by percussionist Germaine Liu, could have sounded like a lot of things, and in fact, though it quickly took shape, it didn't necessarily sound like what the participants themselves were expecting. Matt Smith brought his laptop and MIDI contollers, but actually spent more of the set playing guitar, grabbing a beer can to use as an impromptu slide. Both he and Jonathan Adjemian (on analog synth) also were moved to add some abstract vocals as well, giving a celebratory raga-ish edge to what turned into a junkshop groove like U.S. Maple gone prog.

[Track Could Bend #17 will be at Dundas Video on August 2nd, with Kapali Carsi, ZOË, and Professor Andy Dolgin and the Cereal Killers.]

Recording: Les Mouches

Artist: Les Mouches

Songs: Carload of Whatever + Winter = Dead Time^*

Recorded at Double Double Land, November 30, 2015.

Les Mouches - Carload of Whatever

Les Mouches - Winter = Dead Time

Les Mouches is rather an odd band, with spindly, delicate finger-picked guitar figures suddenly giving way to panic attack noise outbursts and melodramatic pop confessions exploding into emotive shouts. All three of its members would go on to create bodies of fascinating music, but it's Owen Pallett's subsequent emergence as some manner of pop star that made the band an ongoing curiosity beyond the circle of Torontopia/Blocks Music Club enthusiasts. That interest has been stoked again with Warren Hildebrand (of Foxes in Fiction) re-issuing the band's You're Worth More To Me Than 1​,​000 Christians on his Orchid Tapes label. (Like all Orchid Tapes releases, you can grab it over at the Orchid Tapes bandcamp on a "name your price" basis.)

For a band that never toured (and barely played outside Toronto) it might make sense that the "release party" for the reissue came at this "secret" Orchid Tapes showcase at the rather-intimate Double Double Land. The fact that they played a well-rehearsed full-length set (including previously-unheard material, like the latter song here) might be a sign this wasn't meant as a one-off. And though Rob Gordon and Matt Smith are still working together as Pallet's backing unit on his solo material, the group seems pretty casual about the very idea of their re-emergence to dig out these youthful skeletons in their closets, so who's to say when there'll be another chance to see this material being performed?

^* Thanks to OP for passing along the title to this one.

Recording: Nifty

Artist: Nifty

Song: [last piece]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Main Hall), October 1, 2015.

Nifty - [last piece]

After c_RL's utterly persuasive opening set, Matt Smith called some members of the audience together for a huddle before he took the stage, looking unsure of his gameplan. "I don't know what I'm doing," he commented as he was about to start, which I take it to mean he realized the mood in the room called for something more subdued than he had been planning. After setting up his tubs of electronic gear, he did lead off with a short electronic piece, some humming bursts of burbling synthtone, but then he switched to guitar for a quiet instrumental piece. Then he called up Colin Fisher and Brandon Valdivia as well as c_RL's Nicole Rampersaud along with a mini-choir and started conducting this piece for found words (he'd solicited a newspaper from the crowd before starting, which explains some of the topical lyrics, if you can make 'em out). Despite himself, Smith still managed to build up to a pleasingly bombastic rush.

Recording: Nifty

Artist: Nifty

Song: unknown^*

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall ("Blocks Final Concert"), May 9, 2015.

Nifty - unknown

Matt Smith closed out a lengthy night of music with some re-energizing body-movement grooves, including some from his Pity Slash Love, which will be remembered as the final Blocks release.

^* Does anyone know the title to this one? Please leave a comment!

Recording: Les Mouches

Artist: Les Mouches

Songs: Love Song to an Empty Room + (They Long to Be) Close to You [The Carpenters cover]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall ("Blocks Final Concert"), May 9, 2015.

Les Mouches - Love Song to an Empty Room

Les Mouches - (They Long to Be) Close to You

The secret identity of the show's "unnamable special guests" was spoiled well before when Owen Pallett confirmed that Les Mouches would be playing. Although Rob Gordon and Matt Smith have been Pallett's touring band for a good while, it'd been more than a decade since they'd performed under the old name, playing the music from their Blocks albums. This older material shows off Pallett's nascent songwriting gifts, even if it situates them in a different sonic environment than in his Final Fantasy/solo incarnation. The set started off with a bang — quite literally — as Gordon punctuated a line early on "Love Song to an Empty Room" by tossing a cymbal onto the floor of the open area of the stage in front of his drumkit. And from there, things proceeded well enough that "Close To You" was inserted before the closer.

Six years/Six pack: Anni Spadafora

MFS has turned six! My introductory thoughts on this landmark can be found here, but long story short: I asked some folks to pick some of their favourites to help me celebrate.

Today's list is from artist/DJ/musician Anni Spadafora, who plays no wave-esque rock in one of the city's best new bands, but who also has the name PAULINE OLIVEROS emblazoned on her guitar.

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It was really difficult choosing only 6 recordings. So grateful for this archive, this wild attempt at throwing a net at this mess of a city. These are songs from shows I was at or wished I had been at. And a hint at some of the core people whose music urges me to listen deeper around these parts.

Nif-D - Centre of Gravity excerpt

Muskox - Buff Stop

AND THIS (sorry, I'm a cheat and a glutton)

Anagram - What a Mess

THOMAS - unknown

Alex Lukashevsky - Back to the River

Jesse Laderoute - Cassette Store Day [excerpt]

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You can always click on the tags below to look for more stuff from these artists. Has there been a half-dozen songs posted here that made an impact on you? If you'd like to get in on the action and make a list, feel free to send me an email: mechanicalforestsound@gmail.com.

Recording: Advice

Artist: Advice

Song: For Friends [excerpt]

Recorded at Double Double Land, November 9, 2014.

Advice - For Friends [excerpt]

There was sadness at DDL on this night as Border Trouble kept the night's headliners away. The openers stepped up to make it an earlier, though still quite worthy evening. First up was this new combo, led by Jonathan Adjemian on his analog synth alongside Chris Worden and Matt Smith (guits), Colin Fisher (baritone sax) and Karen Ng (bass clarinet). Starting with drones and hums, this opened up in a manner suggestive of the emergent metaphor (birth/sunrise/ascendant consciousness) of your choice. A little in a In a Silent Way way, but the closer local point of reference here might be some of Chris Willes' recent work.

There's nothing more slated for this group yet, but speaking of Emergents, Adjemian will be presenting new work in March "for speaking and singing voice, sine waves, and wind instruments" at a show curated by Willes at the Music Gallery. (And while you're waiting for that, be sure to check out Adjemian's latest Hoover Party tape.)

Recording: Prince Nifty

Artist: Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at Tibet Kitchen (Backyard Afternoon), July 27, 2014.

Prince Nifty with Colin Fisher - [excerpt]

Full review to follow. Although it hadn't been too long since I'd seen Matt Smith performing, this melow afternoon had a pretty different feel than the full-on dance party that time out. In fact, this had three distinct vibes, with Smith starting an ethereal solo piece for voice and laptop before the atmospheric guitar duo with Colin Fisher excerpted here. He finished with an experimental piece, asking many of the day's previous performers (Isla Smith, HVYWTR's Vic Cheong, Heather Segger, Fisher plus host Jonathan Adjemian) to put in earplugs and sing, following his conducting and without reference to the performers around them. A lovely ending to a wonderful day in a pretty amazing spot.

Bonus! Here's a brief video clip of that floating solo vocal piece that opened the set:

Recording: Prince Nifty

Artist: Prince Nifty

Song: Body Irony

Recorded at Double Double Land, July 11, 2014.

Prince Nifty - Body Irony

Full review to follow. Matt Smith's dancefloor-oriented work does a, um, nifty job of subverting the too-obvious tropes the genre can fall into, sometimes bursting out of the gate before you can catch up to it, and sometimes — as in the case of a brand new piece debuted at the end of the set — surging suggestively without dropping into the straighahead 4/4 zone you're expecting. But you don't have to get uptight about it. "I'll spare you all the details of what I'm thinking today," Smith told the crowd as he got started, "and just ask that you guys can dance. If you can't dance, just flail." I did my best.

[You can catch Nifty in a different sort of environment at Sunday's highly-anticipated Backyard Afternoon at Tibet Kitchen.]

Sunday Playlist #45

Sunday Saturday Playlist #45: National Drone Day

Huzzah! It's National Drone Day! To help you "spend this day listening entirely to drone music", here's a few apt selections from my archive, including a previously unposted Drone Day exclusive from Jean-François Laporte.

If you want to experience the sounds and the community today, there are at least three shows happening in town:

• The "official" National Drone Day celebration at The Tranzac
• The AMBiENT PiNG's Afternoon dreamSTATE Drone at Arrayspace
• Drone Alone, tonight in the basement of Mây

Drone on, you crazy drone-minds.

Zachary Fairbrother Feedback Guitar Orchestra - Buddha Box 2.1 [excerpt]

Jean-François Laporte - Rust

Total Life - [excerpt]

Svarte Greiner - excerpt from an improvisation

Wyrd Visions vs. Nif-D - excerpt from an improvisation

Martin Arnold & Friends - The Cuckoo Bird

Bonus! For some extra DIY drone-styles, you can also check out this recording of humming machinery I made.

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Sunday Playlist is a semi-regular feature that brings back some of this blog's previously-posted original live recordings for an encore. You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.

Recording: Nifty

Artist: Nifty

Song: This'll Never Last [Tradition cover]

Recorded at Holy Oak Café ("Toronto Does Toronto II"), October 27, 2013.

Nifty - This'll Never Last

Full review to follow. The basic idea here — having Toronto musicians pay tribute to the songs of other Toronto musicians — is something I can get behind as a musical locavore, so I was sad to have missed the first night in this series back in summertime. Fortunately that went over well enough to bring about a second instalment — and word on the street is that we can expect another come January.

Leading off the night with a couple "miserable" tunes, Matt Smith gave high praise to a Blocks Recording Club compatriot (and a musician that he has previously been on a split single with). James Klassen, who records under the moniker Tradition has been on the scene for awhile now, but his low-key presence and slow-simmering songwriting style are perhaps a bit out of step with out short-attention-span times. Klassen put out a new album this summer and will be taking to the same stage at the Holy Oak next week (on November 5th).

Recording: Prince Nifty

Artist: Prince Nifty

Song: Vox News Double Double Dose

Recorded at Holy Oak Café, June 22, 2013.

Prince Nifty - Vox News Double Double Dose

Full review to follow. Long a paragon of DIY co-operation around town, Matt Smith remains an inventive and under-appreciated musician, as capable of filling out a set with avant-dance beats as Gregorian chants. This track — an experimental/bouncy single before landing on the recent Pity Slash Love album — hews towards the former. It closed out a celebratory set at Pachamama's tape release show.

Sunday Playlist #12

Sunday Playlist #12: Let's Dance

Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah

Kids on TV - Dazzler

Nif-D - Centre of Gravity excerpt

Mahmoud Ahmed - unknown

Bocce - Disco Juan

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You can always click the tags below to see what I originally wrote about the shows these songs came from.

Preview: SummerWorks Festival 2010

For the third year, Toronto's long-running SummerWorks festival is supplementing its theatrical programme with a Music Series. This year the music portion finds a new home at The Lower Ossington Theatre (100A Ossington), and has expanded beyond just the concert-format shows of the past couple years to include Musical Works in Concert ("an opportunity for creators, composers, and lyricists with a platform to showcase musical work in development ") as well as shows in the Performance Bar (downstairs at the Ossington Theatre) where a bevy of musicians will be special guests to some manner of freewheeling drop-in improv.

It looks like a very well-chosen lineup that you can look over here. Many of the artists — both in the concert series and in the performance bar — will be familiar to readers of this blog, and I feel like I can recommend quite a few of them. Plus, I can back up my words with some live samples to give you an idea of what you might be in for.

If you want to read more about any of these artists, just click on the labels at the bottom of this post.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5TH, 2010

Mainstage: The Hidden Cameras

Leading things off with a two-night stand is one of the city's most theatrical bands, a perfect fit for this Festival. In fact, word is that the band will be doing a theatrical re-interpretation of last year's Origin:Orphan. The band's performances always have the sense of being an event, and this one looks like it might be something special.

Listen! The Hidden Cameras - Fear of Zine Failure (Recorded at the Opera House, December 5, 2009.)

Performance Bar: Allie Hughes

Allie Hughes has transcended past a flirtation with reality TV (as a contestant on How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria) to craft sophisticated pop that's smart enough not to alienate jaded listeners in Toronto's indie scene, daring to be a technically proficient singer in a milieu that often prefers the cough-ahem-authenticity of the rough-hewn.

Listen! Allie Hughes - Headmaster (Recorded at The Garrison, March 5, 2010)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6

Mainstage: The Hidden Cameras

see above

Performance Bar: Maylee Todd

Whether performing space-funk workouts with her band Pegwee Power or performing soulful solo jams on her harp, Maylee Todd brings star power to the stage.

Listen! Maylee Todd & Pegwee Power - Aerobics in Space (Recorded at The Drake Underground, March 25, 2010)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7TH, 2010

Performance Bar: Tasseomancy

Previously known as Ghost Bees, this duo of twin sisters Sari and Romy Lightman transfix with their spare folk stylings. A little bit of off-kilter spookiness that would go down well in any cemetery or haunted house.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 8TH, 2010

Performance Bar: Laura Barrett

One of the city's best, Laura Barrett brings her kalimba-powered songs to bear on pressing issues of love, optimism, and other science projects.

Listen! Laura Barrett - Ferryland (Recorded at Jason Collett's Basement Revue, Dakota Tavern, December 22, 2009)

MONDAY, AUGUST 9TH, 2010

Performance Bar: THOMAS / Snowblink

Most recently gaining attention as Owen Pallett's on-stage co-conspirator, Thomas Gill — the band THOMAS' namesake — has in fact collaborated with many local musicians in addition to leading his own combo. With falsetto vocals augmented by Felicity Williams' soulful pipes, THOMAS dares to be soft in the face of a hard world.

The musical partnership of Daniela Gesundheit and Dan Goldman, Snowblink takes a beautiful voice and wraps it in reverb and antlers, then loops more voices around that. The band have been playing some choice new material lately, and often throw in a stripped-down cover recasting a song you thought you knew in a haunting new light.

Listen! Snowblink - unknown (Recorded at Poor Pilgrim Island Show 4 (St. Andrew-by-the-lake Church), July 18, 2010)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 11TH, 2010

Mainstage: PS I Love You / Diamond Rings

Singer/guitarist Paul Saulnier of Kingston duo PS I Love You fills the stage with guitar and bass (courtesy of foot pedals), bringing a hard-edged rock attack with DOR attitude. Suitable for those who want to hoist their beers up in the air but not alienating those who want to dance.

Listen! P.S. I Love You - Facelove (Recorded at Wavelength 494, The Garrison, December 20, 2009)

Quickly becoming a sensation, Diamond Rings (a.k.a. John O'Regan of local rockers The D'Urbervilles) has gained notice and rapidly-increasing audiences not because of gimmicks or eye-catching videos so much as from bringing some top-notch pop songs to the stage. Presented with increasing assuredness, O'Regan knows how to meld melancholy bedroom pop with electro-glam bombast, pulling off more than a few anthems in the process.

Listen! Diamond Rings - Something Else (Recorded at Owen Pallett's 30th Birthday Party, Lula Lounge, Sunday, September 6, 2009)

Performance Bar: Grand Analog

Reggae and soulful flourishes complement Odario Williams' ecumenical hip-hop, brought to life with an energetic live band. A guaranteed party-starter.

Listen! Grand Analog - Not Enough Mondays (Recorded at Daps All-Ages V, Kapisanan Philippine Centre, April 10, 2010)

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12TH, 2010

Mainstage: The Wilderness of Manitoba

Those who came to folk-rock via Fleet Foxes will find as much to like in this band as those who came to folk-rock via Crosby, Stills & Nash. Featuring warm harmonies and banjo, this band has advanced their craft pretty rapidly in a fairly short time. (appearing with The Mountains & The Trees, Entire Cities and The Weather Station)

Listen! The Wilderness of Manitoba - Evening (Recorded at The Garrison, January 21, 2010)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 13TH, 2010

Mainstage: Picastro / Evening Hymns

The two adjectives that come first to mind when describing Picastro would be "sleepy" and "downer" — this is not music to listen to while operating heavy machinery. But there's a melancholy beauty in the slowly-spun arrangements behind Liz Hysen's songs. Highly recommended for those who don't finch in the face of interiority.

Listen! Picastro - Hortur (Recorded at Wavelength 500 (night 4), SPK Polish Combatants Hall, February 13, 2010)

Jonas Bonnetta's Evening Hymns, meanwhile, also have a bit of a haunted quality to them, evoking ghost-filled forests and abandoned cabins. Working in a roots-y vein, Bonnetta is capable of creating striking music on his own, but fleshed out with a band works toward a ragged grandeur.

Listen! Evening Hymns - Dead Deer (Recorded at the Out of This Spark 3rd Anniversary Party, The Garrison, January 22, 2010)

Performance Bar: Nifty / Bob Wiseman

A one-man band with a laptop and bin full of electronics, Matt Smith (a.k.a Nifty and/or Nif-D) is also a master of the looping pedal, folding layers of his own vocals into his real-time electronic compositions. Equally capable of creating ambient soundscapes and dancefloor bangers, Nif-D never plays the same set twice.

Listen! Nif-D - Centre of Gravity excerpt (Recorded at Centre of Gravity, November 21, 2009. Bite Your Tongue #2)

Returning to the music programme after presenting his musical/theatrical hybrid "Actionable" in last year's SummerWorks, activist, bon vivant and Canadian music legend Bob Wiseman may bring some or all of these elements to this show: guitar, accordion, keyboards, storytelling, outrage, short films, love songs.

Listen! Bob Wiseman - The Disappearing Trick (Summerworks Festival (Factory Studio Theatre). Saturday, August 15, 2009)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14TH, 2010

Mainstage: Bocce / RatTail

Last chance to dance! As kinetic and mildly chaotic as the sport that they are named after is not, this synth-rockin' crew will probably leave the Lower Ossington Theatre in a sweaty mess.

Listen! Bocce - Disco Juan (Recorded at Lee's Palace (Friends in Bellwoods 2 release party), Friday, August 28, 2009)

Purveyors of a smartly-torqued indie-rock sound, trio RatTail features guitarist Jasmyn Burke's vocals, with a flattened monotone affect that veers off into yelps, as the most immediately arresting element in their arsenal. They fit well against the lean post-punk groove of the music, with Ryan Mounsey's bass often seizing the melodic lead space against the slashing guitar lines.

Listen! RatTail - George Mounsey (Recorded at Wavelength P.S. Kensington, May 30, 2010)

Recording: Wyrd Visions vs. Nif-D

Artist: Wyrd Visions vs. Nif-D

Song: excerpt from an improvisation

Recorded at Teranga, May 16, 2010.

Wyrd Visions vs. Nif-D - excerpt from an improvisation

My notes for this gig can be found here.